Inti Raymi

What actually happens

The Qorikancha invocation — the opening scene at the Inca sun temple in the city centre. The Plaza de Armas meeting — the Sapa Inca carried on a litter through the crowd.

• 01The Qorikancha invocation — the opening scene at the Inca sun temple in the city centre.
• 02The Plaza de Armas meeting — the Sapa Inca carried on a litter through the crowd.
• 03Sacsayhuamán sacrifice — llama blood offered to the sun, re-enacted rather than performed.
• 04Cusco's Corpus Christi — fifteen saints' images processed with a communal meal.

Sound of the crowd

Quena, zampoña and charango, with the huayno rhythm underneath. The official performance uses a purpose-composed score rather than historical reconstruction.

How it survived

Described by Garcilaso de la Vega in his Comentarios Reales, which remains the fullest account of what the ceremony actually involved. The 1944 reconstruction by Faustino Espinosa Calderón established the script still performed annually.